Technology, training tools, and programming methods will continue to evolve, but the fundamentals of athletic development remain the same. Drawing on more than three decades of coaching professional rugby, Ashley Jones explains why mastering basic movement patterns, building strength and power, managing recovery, and holding athletes to high standards will always matter more than chasing the latest trend.

Resistance bands are one of the most versatile and underused tools in strength training. Here's every way to use them, from accommodating resistance on the main lifts to rehab, speed work, and keeping a beat-up body in the game.

Progress stalls when the stimulus gets stale. Ashley Jones explains how to avoid accommodation through planned variation, three-week training blocks, exercise rotation, and smarter loading strategies that help athletes stay on the gain train.

Modern rugby programs are filled with GPS data, velocity trackers, testing batteries, and performance dashboards. Ashley Jones challenges coaches to look beyond the numbers and ask the question that matters most: Is the program actually helping players perform better when the game is on the line?

The perfect program means nothing without the standards to execute it. Drawing on more than three decades in professional sport, Ashley Jones explains why discipline, intent, professionalism, recovery, and personal responsibility matter more than any set-and-rep scheme.

Individualizing training inside a team environment is one of the hardest jobs in strength and conditioning. Ashley Jones explains how his four-stage Quadrant Management System shifts decision-making from coach to player without sacrificing structure, readiness, or care.

A lifter who can bench 500 pounds will shake like a leaf on an unloaded shoulder drill, and that gap is costing you strength.

Dr. Christopher "Marv" Marvin joins Dave Tate for a hard look at patient-first rehab, hypertrophy, pec-tear warning signs, bracing, blood-flow restriction, imaging, and what it really takes to keep training.

Progressive pre-season planning gives rugby athletes the runway they need to build strength, speed, conditioning, and durability without rushing straight into full workloads. This article breaks down a practical three-phase model—break-in week, standard loading, and shock loading/deload—designed to prepare athletes for competition while minimizing unnecessary injury risk.

After years away from writing, Chad Faria realized he never ran out of things to say—he just stopped believing they were worth saying. From family challenges and coaching growth to an 1,800-pound total and lessons learned under pressure, he reflects on consistency, self-doubt, mentorship, and why sharing experience is simply another form of coaching.

Strongman competitor and gym owner Josh Hendrickson sits down with Dave Tate to talk biceps rehab, training through injury, chasing a sub-20 5K, building 580 Barbell, promoting better strongman shows, and what it takes to stay in strength sports for the long haul.

The Man Maker Beastly is a full-body strength circuit built around one implement and the Zercher position. Using lunges, squats, good mornings, step-ups, and loaded carries, this sequence challenges athletes to stay braced, move efficiently, and build strength that transfers beyond the weight room.

The hardest part of elite performance isn’t always the training. It’s managing identity, pressure, suffering, recovery, relationships, and the person you become along the way. This article breaks down the psychological architecture behind contest prep—and why building the mind matters just as much as building the body.

Build the athlete before the season demands performance. Ashley Jones uses a Formula 1 framework to show how coaches can structure the training year: build strength, durability, and capacity in the off-season; test and refine those qualities in preseason; and manage readiness, recovery, and performance during the competitive season.

Former Wisconsin strength coach Brian Bott joins Dave Tate to unpack the realities of collegiate strength and conditioning—from rebuilding broken movement patterns and maintaining power deep into the season to creating a weight room culture built on accountability, resilience, and long-term athlete development.

Winning can hide the truth, but losing exposes every weakness. This article breaks down how one failed ruck attempt became a blueprint for better strategy, stronger leadership, smarter training, and a deeper sense of purpose.

The fitness industry is obsessed with the next peptide, supplement, hormone, and recovery shortcut. But none of it matters if the foundation is weak. This article breaks down the training, nutrition, sleep, hydration, recovery, and cellular principles that drive real physical progress—and explains why exercise remains the most powerful performance tool available.

Upper-body size only matters when it carries over to contact. Ashley Jones breaks down how rugby athletes can build functional “armor plating” through heavy pressing, rowing, chin-up strength, shoulder stability, 3D movement patterns, smart weekly programming, and brutal 6-12-25 hypertrophy finishers.

Lucas White’s road through college strength and conditioning was not clean or comfortable. From cement weights in a basement to unpaid internships, smashed glasses, SEC weight rooms, conjugate training, and in-season football programming, this article keeps it real on what the profession actually demands: coaching, communication, strain, and the ability to build athletes who do not fold when it matters.

Jordan Wong breaks down the realities of staying in the iron game—from serious injuries and smarter rehabilitation to autoregulation, meet-day decisions, gym ownership, and knowing when ego is doing more harm than good.

Elite performance is not built on one perfect program, exercise, or recovery method. It is built through daily choices. Ashley Jones explains what it means to live above the line, take ownership, master the basics, and build the character required for long-term success.

Lu Faustin, Kailey Latimer, and Daniella Means did not become gladiators overnight. Their strength was built through bodybuilding, powerlifting, professional wrestling, adversity, and years of relentless work. This is the story of three women who prove that real strength cannot be bought—it has to be earned.